Watching the Olympics on TV is always a treat. It doesn’t matter what event it is, swimming, basketball, boxing, fencing, volleyball, it’s always enjoyable to watch people from other countries compete.

Yes, watching mostly people from other countries…

The Philippines is home to great athletes. Lydia de Vega, Paeng Nepumoceno, Manny Pacquiao (for crying out loud). Yet this year, we sent only 11 candidates to the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Dramatic sigh.

But as sad as I was, I decided to find out more about our Philippine team, both past and present.

Here are few interesting, endearing, and sometimes very depressing tidbits I discovered. (Be warned though. I vented too, not on our athletes but those who are supposed to take care of them.)

1 We have not own any medal since Mansueto Velasco won a Silver in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. This leads to another interesting fact: His older brother, Roel, won Bronze in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

2 Our athletes wore modern Barong designed by Rajo Laurel!

3 Our two archers, Mark Javier and Rachelle Cabral underwent a 10-day training in South Korea as part of their prep for the Games. I respect our athletes, but seriously, couldn’t the “higher-ups” invest more in their training? Of course, they may have trained far longer than that while here in the Philippines, but without a world-class coach as they had in Korea.

4 Of the eleven athletes sent, only seven qualified through Olympic qualifying competitions around the world. The other four were chosen to represent the country as we were entitled to have representatives to two events.

5 Obvious fact: We are known around the world because of Manny Pacquiao, yet we only have one boxing delegate. May I beg whoever is in charge to please concentrate on building up this sport as this is perhaps the ONLY FIGHTING CHANCE we have? Seriously. Just one?

6 Our judoka is Tomohiko Hoshina, a big, lovable, and very friendly Filipino-Japanese with a dual citizenship who is “Pilipinong-Pilipino sa puso,” candidly admitted to Malaya.com.ph that he was with the Philippine team because, “Small chance in Japan. There [in the Philippines] easy [for him to get in the Olympics].”

7 Paul Brian Rosario, our “shooter” scored the first ever perfect score for a Filipino shooter in one round in the men’s skeet event. Sadly, this wasn’t enough (there were 3 rounds) to qualify him for the finals.

8 Our boxer Mark Anthony Barriga is the smallest member of the Philippine team, yet he was said to carry the heaviest burden as many expected him to be the one to bring home a medal. Unfortunately, this did not materialize.

9 (Questions!) Don’t we have world champion rowers? Granted, they are involved in dragon boat racing, but aren’t they word-class rowers already? Why don’t we have delegates?

Well, there you have it. Although it’s unfortunate that we have this medal drought, I think we can always improve.

In reality, we ordinary people can only do so much. Our athletes need food, training, equipment, and proper gear to help them reach their maximum potential. we can cheer and support, but we can’t pay for their world-class coaches or buy them the right boxing gloves.

If only those who have the power to do something will do something, we have a chance to win. I’m talking about politicians, rich people, and even product sponsors. Do something to help our athletes please.

Glori is a registered nurse but you can hire her as a freelance writer for your quality content needs. She writes, sometimes sarcastically, about her crazy introvert life on her blog, Crazy Introvert,
in the hopes of connecting with other introverts like her. She likes ideas, fiction books, dogs, and life in general.

This is an interesting note! Yet I think, Filipino athletes focus more on the reward benefit (money to be specific) after the game. Even if we say Olympics is a prestigious international amateur sports competition, we still can’t deny the fact that reinforcement is much lesser compared to professional games or world cup competitions. Anyhow, both competitions still bring pride to the nation. Hence, practicality is more evident in this situation. Just my opinion…:-)

http://glorisurban.com/ Glori Surban

Hi Ralph! Yes, so true, but we can’t blame the athletes too because they don’t get enough support from the government.

Wow ralph! Thanks for the comment!

Anonymous

Yeah. Most athletes would most likely try to find ways to earn “extra” because they would have no choice. I hope this style won’t last forever.

Anonymous

Some of these are very disappointing.

I hope rich companies help sponsor our athletes.

http://glorisurban.com/ Glori Surban

That’s also what I hope will happen. We can’t expect much from the government when it comes to supporting our athletes.